Boeing, Russia Jet Partners?
Boeing`s talk of teaming up with Russia on an all-new passenger jet could lead
to a partnership between two countries rich in aerospace heritage, but some
observers doubt a joint venture will come to fruition.
Thomas Pickering, Boeing`s senior vice president of international relations,
elaborated last week on a recent agreement between Boeing and the Russian
Aviation and Space Agency, telling journalists in Europe the company might
develop an aircraft, possibly a regional jet, as part of the partnership.
Russians would build the jet with Boeing's help.
Russia offers a tantalizing market, but Boeing would be venturing into new
territory. A regional jet would be smaller than any passenger jet Boeing has
built.
Aviation consultant Adam Pilarski questioned how much Boeing understands
regional jets, whose customers usually are not the same ones that buy Boeing`s
bigger airliners.
The regional-jet market is highly competitive, with Bombardier, Embraer and
Fairchild Dornier leading the pack, and a host of nations, including South
Korea, India and China, nursing dreams of developing their own smaller jets,
said Pilarski, a senior vice president of Aviatas, an aviation-consulting firm
in Reston, Va.
Still, the Russians have a big need for new regional jets and lack money to buy
them.
Aeroflot, the Russian carrier, was once the world`s largest airline. But since
the fall of the Soviet Union a decade ago, the Russian aviation market has
shrunk dramatically, and virtually no civilian planes are being built there.
Pilarski said he doubts a Russian-built jet would find many customers outside
its home. Despite success in space, the country has a dismal record in civil
aviation. Aeroflot at one time was crashing with such regularit…
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